10 Holiday Gifts for Curious Kids

Too often, kids' stockings are stuffed with gifts that do little to spark creativity, and lots to annoy those around them. It needn't be so. A great toy can educate, entertain, and even get you--the gift-giving adult--involved in the action. We scoured the shelves not for the hottest items this holiday season (good luck finding a Wii for the second year straight), but for the ones most likely to produce creative results, stimulate brains, and perhaps even pay off down the line when your kid develops a new-found interest in the sciences and robotics.